Physical Description

Vibecaps consist of a pale colored stalk, a round head atop it with one large eye, with black sclera and a bright glowing iris, and a mouth below that. From the top of their head are the titular caps that vibecaps have, which resemble the caps of a wide variety of traditional funguses. These caps are also bioluminescent, sometimes in their entirety, and sometimes only partially, producing glowing patterns. Vibecaps have been known to style their caps, having no pain receptors in them.

The stalks of vibecaps are capable of partially splitting off, which is done in order for them to form arms, legs, and occasionally tails. These are generally completely prehensile, but vibecaps with less limbs are generally more dexterous than those with more. While splitting one's stalk down the middle to be able to walk is common, many still prefer to hop on one stalk to afford more focus to a pair or more of arms. Others argue that the difference between legs and no legs is negligible at best in regards to using other limbs.

Vibecap fashion varies wildly from scene to scene, but is often described as being "extra." Vibecaps encourage each other to show off with clothing and accessories, accessories that can fit any kind of body types being particularly common. Some of the most common fashion traits include bright, neon colors, loose fitting garments, and generally nonfunctional headwear.

Vibecaps often emit spores that create weak electromagnetic connections. These spores have not been known to affect electronics, but do help the emitter sense their surroundings. Different vibecaps can also somewhat communicate with each other via these spores.

Personality

Vibecaps, first and foremost, like to have a good time. While it could be said most species do prefer to enjoy themselves, vibecap society has built up almost entirely around keeping the mood high. This is mostly accomplished by way of the party, their area of expertise.

It's rare to find a vibecap that doesn't love to party. Throwing them, attending them, and almost always doing their part to make sure the party goes as smoothly as possible. Vibecaps are naturally empathetic with others, and are used to situations where when one person is having a bad time in a group, it's easy to spread to everybody else. If somebody's in a bad mood, vibecaps will often go out of their way to rectify this. If somebody is causing trouble for others, they are also likely to try to get them to stop, or remove them from the group entirely.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these traits mean the average vibecap is overwhelmingly friendly and accommodating. They love to share their own interests, but with their empathetic nature are also eager to try and get into whatever others are into as well. A common occurrence when a vibecap makes a new friend is to find out what they like, learn as much about those things as possible, and throw a party with a focus on these things for their new friend.

History

For most of its history, Arpegius had been a planet of unity. Historians will make note of the Genre Wars thousands of years ago, in which most of the planets nations broke up into what were referred to as 'scenes,' but these days, different scenes enjoy much greater co-mingling and appreciation of one another, with open borders across nearly all. New scenes form and dissolve regularly, but some dissolved scenes maintain strong subcultures.

Another moment of strife in the vibecap's planet's history is known as the Great Vibe Check. Empathy and keeping the mood high has always been important across their entire culture, but even the friendliest peoples have those who seem to enjoy spoiling the mood. To this end, a mass exile of those deemed dangerous or malicious was performed, sending them off to form their own scene, hoping that maybe spending their days with other like minded individuals would serve them better. This scene persists to this day, but most vibecaps seem reluctant to talk about it.

Home Planet

A slightly muddy planet, covered in large, bright cities that nonetheless tend to keep the soft earth exposed, even within buildings. Masses of fungal root networks sit underneath the ground, which individual vibecaps can tap into to get a feel for the area, and many of which have been cultivated to create planetwide networks usable with communication technologies, such as phones and internet.

Subspecies

Gloomcap: Some argue that the Great Vibe Check simply ousted those that could already have been identified as gloomcaps, but evidence seems to point that putting negative thinkers in one place for a long time of a naturally empathetic species simply creates a feedback loop of negative thought. Gloomcaps revel in misery. It's not certain if merely their social circumstances drive them to keep the mood down, or if they have developed a biological need to feel the misery of others, but attempts at rehabilitation often fail.

Nightcap: Not all vibecaps will find themselves out in parties or spending much time directly with other vibecaps at all. The ability to feel the emotions of all other vibecaps in the area is overwhelming to nightcaps, and they generally prefer to stay alone, or go out when the streets may be less dense. These vibecaps still maintain a sense of positive empathy, and even are known to enjoy parties like all others, but can't handle more than very small gatherings. Nightcaps out in the universe still tend to introversion, but are often more comfortable without other funguses around. Nightcaps on Arpegius have more recently learned to take advantage of its worldwide online networks to maintain social circles without the overwhelming nature of being in the same place as them.

Special

Fungal Empathy: Thanks to their spores, and the fungal root systems of their planet, vibecaps are able to sense and share the feelings of other vibecaps. A large group of vibecaps can act on a similar wavelength, being comparable to a hivemind, but vibecaps insist that a sense of individuality is still important, but those with thoroughly incompatible "vibes" that bring down the group mood can also easily afflict the group as a whole.

While not as strong as with their own kind, some other fungal species can also have their moods sensed by vibecaps. The presence of clockworks have been known to make vibecaps feel quickly and intensely uncomfortable, even before knowing about this presence.

Trivia

• The lights from the various parties constantly happening on Arpegius at all times are very plainly visible from orbit, and also tend to act as a navigation hazard for ships planning on landing without sending a request for a cleared landing path. Claims that the parties can be heard from orbit through the vacuum of space are unverified, but common.

• Vibecaps are generally wary of tourists. It only took one dissolving after being promised the 'perfect party' to cause many to worry about whether helping them find their happiness is truly good. While it's been insisted that it is, in fact, a good thing, most vibecaps seem to agree that somebody dying at a party kind of kills the mood.

• Vibecap embassies, while often mistaken for nightclubs, more often serve as nurseries. Growth of new vibecaps calls for specially treated soil, similar to that on Arpegius, and embassies most often prepare land for prospective parents to use as acceptable growing ground. This helps save the trouble of trying to prepare enough fungal soil at home, and also ambassadors have already done the regulatory work around non-native ecology to make legal hassles no problem.

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